1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of computer software. More specifically, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for dynamically formatting and displaying tabular data in real time.
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2. Background
Presenting data records in tabular form (e.g., as a set of rows each with the same number and types of column) is a well-known way to compactly represent large quantities of information. As a result, people frequently present data records (e.g., printed or displayed) using tables to convey different kinds of information. Product catalogs, for example, typically contain a large number of tables representative of the various product alternatives available in the catalog. The following example illustrates the effectiveness of using a table to describe multiple aspects of a product line.
100200400Ex-PricePricePriceposuresModel1Model1Model112F-35-100-12$2.50F-35-200-12$2.50F-35-400-12$2.5024F-35-100-24$3.75F-35-200-24$3.75F-35-400-24$3.7535F-35-100-36$4.25F-35-200-36$4.25F-35-400-36$4.25
Computer software programs such as Quark Express™, PageMaker™, Microsoft Word™, Microsoft Excel™, and many others provide mechanisms for generating such tables. However, the approach these program use to manipulate table data is cumbersome and lacks flexibility. Although it is possible to generate and format tables using these programs, the process for doing so is unnecessarily laborious. For example, in most case users are required to manually provide numerous commands relating to each cell, row, or column of information in the table. Any page layout having a table must be meticulously laid out with existing page layout programs a page at a time and formatted a table at a time by manually populating page layouts with product data, a process that is time-consuming, tedious and very, very expensive. There is also no easy way to experiment with different tabular layout formats and views of the data, and once a page has been laid out, it is difficult to add or remove records from the tables without destroying the structure of the page and requiring that it be laid out again (sometimes from scratch) which discourages updates and means that catalog pages tend to quickly become out-of-date.
The upside of this complex process, however, is that manual page layout usually results in high page density, flexible and well-structured tabular layout formats using pivots to eliminate redundant information, and a very high overall standard of quality. Notwithstanding the high level of quality, however, it remains difficult to enforce a uniform look throughout a publication because more than one person is usually involved in the page layout process, and each lays out pages somewhat differently. If formatting changes are made (e.g., a row or column is moved, filtered, or sorted), the changes become permanent once the file is saved into persistent memory. Some programs have an undo command that enables users to undo formatting commands in sequence while the document is still in transient memory (e.g., RAM), but the undo command cannot remove commands out of sequence nor can it operate once the file is saved into persistent memory.
By contrast, electronic catalog pages are typically database-driven and generated programmatically in real-time. Since page layouts do not actually exist until the electronic catalog page is displayed, new products can be added and old products removed without disturbing the system or the published output. Unfortunately, the downside of this flexibility is that automatically generated electronic catalog pages are usually no more than wide, ugly, “spreadsheet-style” tables of data with redundant information, very little structure, and none of the sophisticated tabular layout formats that are standard for paper pages. With category-specific attributes and a large number of categories, it is even more impractical to have a customized hand-coded display for each family, so generic unstructured presentations are even more the norm.
Moreover, when publishing to multiple media, none of the effort invested in meticulously laying out paper pages can be leveraged for the electronic catalog, since both the structure of the tabular layout formats as well as the product data are typically trapped within the page layout itself, while the electronic catalog requires that the data be stored and managed in a database to be searchable and generated in real-time. Thus the worlds of the two media are completely distinct and non-overlapping, very difficult to integrate, and require two distinct publishing efforts.
Another problem existing programs for manipulating table data have is that these programs lack a mechanism for dynamically formatting table data in real time. For example, existing programs do not automatically modify the layout of a table in real time upon receipt of formatting commands from the user. Thus, users cannot instantaneously view changes made to the table at the time such changes are made. This limits the users ability to incrementally change the various formatting options until a satisfactory visual appearance is achieved.
Many database programs have the ability to present different views of data. For instance, most Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) include report writers that provide a platform for publishing information stored in the database as formatted presentations with simple tabular layout formats. Those of ordinary skill in the art are familiar with techniques for instructing such report writers to combine information from records in multiple tables, format the common information associated with each family in a structured way, and finally sort the records of tabular information. This approach works well with a relational database in which the field structure and the set of fields is consistent across the entire set of records, the field definitions are relatively static, and the number of fields is limited; because each field applies across the entire database, special handling and formatting for a particular field or fields is coded only once rather than multiple times.
By contrast, in a database with category-specific attributes, the field structure and set of fields differs for the records of each category. Thus, the report writer needs to be coded with specific intelligence about how to handle attributes on a category-by-category basis. If there are a large number of categories and attributes, this can be extremely tedious, time-consuming, and error prone to implement. The report writer must then be recoded each time changes are made to the taxonomy structure (e.g., organizational structure) and/or the set of attributes associated with each category, which makes the report writer approach difficult to maintain as the taxonomy changes over time.
Moreover, using existing report writers (or HTML) to present and structure tabular information more efficiently using pivot columns is a manual process that requires programming expertise that is beyond the capability of most average users. It is also data-dependent, so that even if the report writer can be used to create the pivot tables, the code then needs to be rewritten to reflect the data each time changes are made to the underlying records. Moreover, if each family requires a different tabular layout format because of category-specific attributes, then the particular tabular layout format for each family must be individually coded in the report writer, substantially increasing the coding complexity.
The issues identified above become particularly problematic when publishing catalogs that contain tables of product information. The manner in which catalogs are typically published is a laborious process that involves the manual entry of data and layout of the catalog. Such processes keep the cost of producing catalog or any other publication unnecessarily high. Thus there is a need for a system that dramatically reduces the cost of laying out tabular data by flexibly, programmatically, and automatically generating page layouts in real time. cl SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the invention improve upon current systems by allowing users to dynamically generate and repeatedly modify the appearance of any set of tabular data. When the system obtains input relating to formatting the table, the appearance of the table is dynamically modified so the users can instantaneously view any changes to the table caused by the input (e.g., WYSIWYG). The system accepts various types of input and upon receipt of that input the system changes the appearance of the table in accordance with the input provided. Thus, the user may repeatedly modify the table by providing different or additional input and viewing the results of the input. This enables users to fluidly add, remove, and/or otherwise manipulate layout values associated with the table.
In one embodiment of the invention, the user input (e.g., layout information) relates to various types of pivot operations, sorting operation, and/or merging operations performed on the table. The user may, for example, select a certain field and then initiate a pivot operation using the selected field. The system is configured in accordance with one embodiment of the invention so that the layout information is stored independent of the table data. This arrangement enables the system to apply the layout information to any set of tabular data, even if that data was not used to determine the layout. Additionally, the system can manipulate the tabular data set without changing the underlying structure of the data. The layout information can also be associated with or dependent on a particular set of tabular data and stored along with that data. In this instance, the layout information is part of a file or set of files related to the tabular data.